Illuminating Tiffany

Greetings from the Jean Outland Chrysler Library!

This month the Library is featuring an exhibit of rare Tiffany books as an accompaniment to the museum's current exhibition The Natural Beauty of Tiffany. The exhibit includes scarce art books inscribed by Louis Comfort Tiffany, Tiffany Blue Books from the turn of the century, and other miscellaneous pamphelts that go as far back as 1845! The photo shown below is the first page of the photo album that contains 100 original photographs of lamps made by Tiffany Studios in New York between 1898 and 1918. The photographs, made under the personal supervision of Louis C. Tiffany, have never been reproduced. Come to the Library to check out the rare treat!

 

Picture from our past: Famous visitors to the Chrysler

Recognize this famous face?  It's Friday the 13th, and whether or not you suffer from Triskaidekaphobia you're likely to know this famous actor and art collector from one of his films.  In 1979,  Vincent Price visited the Chrysler Museum and posed with Bernini's Bust of the Savior (71.2043 ).  

Price is perhaps best known for his roles in horror films such as House of Wax (1953)  and  House on Haunted Hill (1959). He also starred in numerous radio shows including The Saint (1944-1951) on NBC radio.  You might also know him from  Edward Scissorhands (1990), or from voice work on Micheal Jackson's Thriller (1982).

What you may not know, however, is that he was also an avid art collector.  From 1962 to 1971, Sears Roebuck  offered the "Vincent Price Collection of Fine Art", to the general public. Around 50,000 works of art were eventually sold through the collection. Price's personal art collection, along with works collected by his wife Mary, became the core of the Vincent Price Art Museum at East Los Angeles College in California. 

Price's visit to the Chrysler Museum was purely for pleasure. You too can enjoy  Bernini's Bust of the Savior - it's currently on view in our Renaissance and Baroque Galleries (Gallery 218).  Happy Friday the 13th!

Update - What's New at the Library



Garden Bulbs In Color SB425 .M25 1938

 Spring has sprung at the Chrysler! Lovely tulips have blossomed in both the Memorial Garden and Mary’s Garden. The galleries are also blooming with color – whether it’s the amazing watercolors of James Tissot: The Life of Christ or the brilliant flowers of Tiffany Lamps:Articles of Utility, Objects of Art. In the Library, too, all sorts of new things are springing up. It’s been awhile since we’ve had a Library update, so here are a few of the many things that are new:

New look –
You may have noticed - the blog looks a little different. After a brief hiatus we’re back with an updated look and some new features. You may enjoy checking out a changing selection of recently researched items, or linking our posts to your Facebook or Twitter page. You can also sign up to receive an email whenever the blog is updated.    We hope you like the changes – please tell us what you think.


New faces –
On April 6 we welcomed Special Project Librarian Chelsea DeAngio to the Library Staff. Chelsea is already hard at work making new materials available to Library patrons and helping with reference requests. She’s great! If you haven’t already, stop by and say hello.

The Museum also welcomed a new curator, Amy Brandt, in March. Amy is the new McKinnon Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, and has been hard a work researching the collection. She’s already helped us build the Library’s collection of books about contemporary art with some much needed additions. You can read more about Amy here. We’re glad to be working with her.

New information -
Everywhere you look in the galleries, there something new and different to look at - new exhibitions, new collections, and new works of art. We’ve been keeping pace in the Library. You’ll find information about all of the current exhibitions on hand in the reading room, along with a number of newly acquired books.

Old and interesting –
If you’ve already visited the James Tissot: The Life of Christ exhibition you may be interested in taking a look at our 1903 New York edition of the completed illustrated Bible for which the watercolors were produced. The three volume set is on view in the reading room.

We’re also featuring new items from the Library’s “hidden” collections in the reading room display case. Along with The Civil War: Visual Perspectives, Then and Now exhibition on view in the Waitzer Community Gallery – a challenging look at the meaning and impact of the War on American history and culture from a variety of perspectives - you can see some intriguing archival materials relating to the Civil War in Hampton Roads from the Library’s collection and start a conversation with voices from the past.

I hope to see you in the Library again soon!

 - L.C.

Top Shelf Books from the Age of Queen Victoria

The World’s Columbian Exhibition, 1893

As an ode to the beauty of Victorian book and their ornate bindings, we’ve filled the top shelves of the reading room with volumes most fitting of attention. One such is The World’s Columbian Exhibition, 1893. The pale blue, gold and black volume is lavishly decorated with scenes of innovation and antiquity. The inside is even more impressive than the binding. The book is filled with photographs and sketches of the exhibits and participants, architecture and inventions. The account of artwork and technology in each building was painstakingly compiled by Trumbull White, World’ Fair Correspondent and William Igleheart, World’s Fair Editor of “Chicago Record.” Others contributed introductions and commentary. Such a large exposition could not possibly be reported by just two journalists. With a full list of illustrations, a department by department introduction, and further commentary by luminaries of the time, this book would have been a must-have for anyone attending the exposition as well as those too far away to enjoy its wonders. Please stop by the Jean Outland Chrysler Library and have a look at this marvel of decorative binding and all of the other books on display.

-SCM

A View from the Stacks - Intern's Journal Week 3

Our wonderful interns Casey and Chelsea have completed their internships and are headed back to school, but they left us with a vivid journal recounting their summer adventures in the Library.  Stay tuned for future editions of  "A View from the Stacks" which will continue to appear on the blog during the next few weeks.

Week 3 – Collections Development and Management


At the beginning of the week, Laura told Chelsea and I we would be helping with collections development by choosing one shelf in the library for an up-to-date inventory. The Library completed a full inventory in 2008, but the shelves are always shifting and changing. We were to go through the shelf, enter basic information about the books into a spreadsheet, flag books in need of relocating or repair, and suggest new books for the shelf. For time and sanity’s sake, Laura encouraged us to choose a shelf that housed books mainly on one subject or a single artist. Since we would be suggesting new books to add, Laura advised us to choose an artist we were familiar with. Based on this information I couldn’t imagine this project taking more than a day – it’s only one shelf, right? The library quickly erased my preconceptions once again.

First – choose one shelf from the painting section of the stacks. This should be the easy part, right? But how does one choose a single shelf in a library of nearly 2,000 shelves! My traditional taste led me towards the exquisite Flemish painters, but choosing a single painter among the thousand of painters within the stacks felt like asking a mother to choose her favorite child. I was afraid of hurting some poor artist’s feelings and worried they would impair my painting skills from the grave forever! So instead of risking any forsaken future, I decided to choose a shelf no one could argue with – 15D – Vermeer. The Chrysler Museum currently has a Johannes Vermeer painting on display in the gallery. Surely there could be no better time to scour through his shelf. I loaded the contents of 15D onto my book cart and went on my way without a trace of guilt.

Several hours into this project, I began to ask myself why I had foolishly neglected to learn French, German, and Dutch. These staples of Flemish art served as roadblocks when trying to read the book titles, but thank goodness Google Translator!

Although this project took much longer than I had originally anticipated, all the listing, flagging, bar-coding, pulling, and re-shelving of books taught me the importance of being meticulous and organized when working in a library. Also, that I need to invest in Rosetta Stone before entering graduate school.

The Vermeer contents of shelf 15D currently sit on the shelves of the library’s reading room for easy public access. Seeing these books specially displayed in the library’s entrance has reassured me that our work as interns is indeed valuable to the Chrysler Museum’s visitors.
 
- Casey Nye, 2010 Summer Library Intern

2010 Book Cart Decorating Contest Results!

The results for the 2010 Jean Outland Chrysler Library Annual Book Cart Decorating Contest are in! This year we had three wonderful and unique entries  - and when the votes were counted, it was a close race. Entering the contest this year were:

Book Cart 1"Das Popenhaus, or, The Dollhouse" by Library Interns Chelsea and Casey was full of interesting details and some familiar faces:  

 

Book Cart 2, "Draw with Harold!" by Laura was inspired by the popular children's classic Harold and the Purple Crayon. Visitors were encouraged to pick up a purple crayon (or, rather pencil) and add a drawing to the cart:

        

Book Cart 3,  "Bonjour Coco!" by Sara was inspired by the designs of Coco Chanel and brings a little of the "City o

 Lights" into the reading room with its recreation of the Eiffel Tower:

Visitors to last week's Library Open house were invited to vote for their favorite design. The winner with 40 votes was "Draw with Harold",  coming in second was the intern's detailed "Popenhaus" with 38 votes and finally, in close third was "Bonjour Coco!" with 34 votes. 

Our thanks to everyone who particpated and voted this year. If you didn't get a chance to see the carts, they'll be on view through Friday, July  30, 2010 in the Reading room.

Take a Peep at what's going on at the Chrysler Museum of Art!

The Peeps Present 10 Fun Things to Do at The Chrysler This Spring:
1. Take one last look at the Eliot Porter exhibition.
2. Enjoy a children's book.
3. Participate in Yoga for Art Lovers.
4. Try your hand at drawing in the galleries.
5. Visit the shop.
6. Talk to a helpful gallery host.
7. Take time to enjoy the tulips.
8. Check out the Boncori restoration.
9. See what's new in the Jean Outland Chrysler Library.
10. Visit the "Women of the Chrysler" website at http://www.womenofthechrysler.org/ and post to the blog http://www.womenofthechrysler.org/guestblog/

Happy Spring!

All that glitters...

          This is one of my favorite times of the year. As the December nights grow colder and longer Norfolk is truly illuminated with glittering lights and decorations. Inspired by this, I’ve collected some of what glitters in the Library’s collection - twenty-four gilt decorations from books on our shelves to share with you. In most cases hand-tooled onto leather, these tiny decorations – often not more than one or two inches in size – are often amazingly intricate. The detail images above are just a sample of the thousands of designs you can find on bindings in the Library -  ranging from 18th century volumes in the Myers collection to 1915 edition of A Christmas Carol illustrated by Arthur Rackham that is currently on display in the reading room. Glistening on the spines and covers and books throughout the Library collection these small details truly make our collection shine.

 - Laura Christiansen Dickson Librarian

In the Galleries....

Wow! The museum has been so busy lately! Of course, there are a number of exciting new exhibitions to take in. Here in the Jean Outland Chrysler Library, we have a few areas in our reading room dedicated to keeping up with current exhibitions - like the galleries these are constantly changing and are always available for browsing. I thought we’d let you know what is currently on display. Of course, the hot topic of interest in the Museum this fall is Egypt. Come by and take a look at the exhibition catalog To Live Forever: Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum to get the inside scoop about the objects in the show, or take a look at some of our other Egyptian resources. Also featured in the reading room right now are books about Dutch Golden Age paintings to compliment a group of works on display in the Kaufman Furniture Gallery. We have a number of books on view about art inspired by war in honor of “At the Front,” which is currently showing in the Frank Photography Gallery. There is a section devoted to the photographic works of Eliot Porter, as well a selection of our many books on African art in celebration of the newly-reinstalled African gallery. Our newest display features Action painting; specifically books about the artists currently hung in the small changing gallery. (Outside of the café.) “Action painting” is a dynamic form of creation and free expression that involves the spontaneous splattering, dripping, scraping, etc. of paint onto canvas and occasionally mixing in other elements such as sand or strips of tape. This show is a great conversation starter, and will have a lot of visitors wanting more. We have several great books that are worth taking a peek at. One such book is The Gesture: Movement in Painting and Sculpture, which analyzes the ways in which the advent of Action painting affected the art world in the long-term. If you have a moment, please stop by the Library and learn a little bit more about your favorite exhibition.


- Library Assistant Sara Mason